Yorkshire swap woolly jumpers for energy strips

Yorkshire will wear their revolutionary new kit for the first time in tomorrow's Roses match against Lancashire in the Pro Arabian Cricket Challenge.

They have signed a five-year deal with kit suppliers Canterbury and will don a two-layer, black and gold strip.

The IonX Base Layer system - effectively a shirt worn over under garments - comes in two types, depending on whether the playing conditions are hot or cold, and uses a state-of-the-art ionised energy fabric which ionises the body through a negatively charged electromagnetic field. This process improves the delivery of oxygen to the muscles through the bloodstream, and has been scientifically proven to increase stamina and accelerate recovery.

South Africa wore the base layer attire on the way to last year's rugby World Cup success while the Yorkshire shirt is made of the same fabrics as those of FA Cup semi-finalists Portsmouth, another of Canterbury's clients.

"On a cold windy day at Headingley you are not going to get as cold and stiff as you would do," said Yorkshire coach Martyn Moxon. "Likewise here with the hot stuff, at two o'clock in the afternoon, if we are fielding in 35 degrees, it will keep the lads' body temperature in control, so it should help the way they can perform."

Jockey Tony McCoy wore a base layer during the Cheltenham Festival last week while several high-profile cricketers such as Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Michael Vaughan have chosen to wear performance underwear.

Yorkshire are the first cricket team to sign up en masse, however, and the sight of fast bowlers wrapping up at fine leg might now become a thing of the past.

Recent scientific testing at Loughborough University also showed that wearing the kit improved an athlete's performance by 2.7%.

Joe Middleton, chief executive of Canterbury, said: "The testing proved that it improved recovery and improves power output. "The idea of an athlete working up a sweat and then pulling on a woolly jumper, which is the same method of keeping warm used in Victorian times is astounding in this day and age.

"We only see Yorkshire going one way because of the attitude we have been confronted with. They have been forward-thinking and dynamic."